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UFC 136 and a look forward to 137.

Last Saturday was UFC 136 Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. There were no real huge surprises, well one…okay two, but we will get to them in a bit. After almost 4 grueling rounds, Edgar was able to finish Maynard by way of TKO in the fourth round. Its a good thing to, because the beginning of the fight was a little rocky and he had to fight his way from behind. Jose Aldo beat Kenny Florian in an absolute war lasting the entire 5 rounds to remain the Champ. Chael Sonnen beat Brian Stann to bring a close to the biggest fights on the card. Now on to the surprises.
First of all was the fight between Melvin Guillard and Joe Lauzon. Everyone thought this was going to be an epic battle but Guillard was going to come out victorious in the end. Actually both of those statements ended up being wrong. Lauzon choked out Guillard in 47 seconds. The second surprise was the up and coming fighter, Stipe Miocic winning over the veteran Joey Beltran. Ever since Cro Cop, I think the MMA world has been searching for the next Croatian sensation. From the looks of this guy, he could just be it. Yes, I know he isn’t actually from Croatia, but he does have Croatian decent, and he wears the same design on his trunks as Cro Cop. Now if he could just develop that kick to the head.

Now, a look to the future. UFC 137 will be Saturday Oct. 29th. This is another card to get excited about. The main event is George St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit. This is one of those fights that I am extremely excited about for two big reasons, GSP is a very dangerous man, and Carlos Condit is a very dangerous man. This is going to be a classic grappler vs. striker. The only problem here is that though GSP is most comfortable on the ground, he has power in his fists and even though Condit can easily knock you out, he can also make you tap. This will be a fight for the ages in the Welterweight division with the belt up for grabs.

BJ Penn is taking on Nick Diaz for the second huge fight of the night. I have great respect for both of the talent these men have. I also have very little respect for these men as people. I think Diaz can be quite the thug and Penn can be the little rich kid growing up in Hawaii, that he is always trying to act like he is not. But when it comes down to how the fight is going to go, I think Diaz’s best chance will be to stand and throw with Penn. I think Penn is far better on the ground. Unfortunately, I have seen Diaz fight and I know that he might be cocky enough to get in there and take Penn down trying to submit him. As much as it pains me to say this, Penn is a legend in the sport and it is mainly because of his ground game.

The third big fight of the night is Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione. This one is guaranteed to be a slug fest. Both of these men like to stand and bang. But Matt also has the option to going to the ground and submitting his opponent. Kongo on the other hand is great at taking his opponent down, but he is more into ground and pound than the submission game. Either way, this is going to be a fun fight to watch. I mean, come on its Matt Mitrione. The guy who is The Ultimate fighter said he was in a better place because he talked to his wife and when asked when they were allowed to call home, he said, that it was in his head. I love it. He’s off his rocker.

Mirko “Cro Cop” vs. “Big Country” Roy Nelson is the fourth big fight of the night and besides Cro Cop having more experience and being in better physical condition, this is one of the most closely matched fights of the night. They are both incredibly hard hitters and have knock out power. “Cro Cop” of course has that left kick to the head that I mentioned earlier, but I think both men will come into this fight cautious and it will be more of a smart fight than a brawl.

Those are the biggest fights of the night, of course there are some other great fighters on the card, Brandon Vera and Donald Cerrone and Tyson Griffin being three. But if they play their cards right, they should make it to fight another day. This is slated to be one amazing card and I can’t wait to see how it all pans out. It all goes down, Oct. 29 in Las Vegas.

As always thank you for reading and I will be posting another real soon.-TFC